Sauced in Translation with Howie Southworth Howie Southworth

My guest today is Spencer Laudiero. Spencer and I went to high school together in New Jersey and this is the first time we have spoken since. Now, before you young guns find that weird, this was well before social media, cell phones, hell even before language was developed. I found my way to California, yada yada yada, and Spencer eventually found his way out there, too, only to take over where I left off. I’m kidding.

Spencer is an acclaimed animator, writer and director who has worked with projects the likes of, Looney Tunes, Robot Chicken, The Ricky Gervais Show and Family Guy. I love his work, so you can say that we’ve been connected over those inter-teletubes since we went to dust-bowl school. Anyway, Here’s our chat.

My guest today is Kathy McCabe. Springing from an award-winning membership website she launched in 2002, Kathy has been non-stop producing Dream of Italy in writing, podcast and public television form with entertaining results. What makes Kathy’s work to inspire fulfilling Italy travel unique is the promise of the whole package: Where to go, who to meet, what to see, where to stay and what to eat.

Kathy’s drive to do this deep dive into Italy began by seeking her great-grandfather’s birthplace, and has empowered her to create her own intimate relationship with the country - with all of us along for the ride. Kathy adores food, and her show proves it. Here’s our chat.

My guest today is Kaiser Kuo. Kaiser is one of my favorite broadcasters as the co-host of the Sinica Podcast on SupChina News. It was through that prismed window that I virtually met him as an international policy guy, the model intellectual expat, a Silicon Valley-meets-Beijing rock star, a sword-enthusiast and moreover, the guy you wanted to be when you grew up but never knew it.
To put icing on this particular cake, Kaiser has divided his life between the US and China, and to my calculations, there is no better way to optimize one’s culinary self. Indeed, I have been a guest on The Sinica Podcast talking about this very thing. Here’s our chat.

My guest today is Badr Benjelloun. Badr is a rennaissance man, professional expatriot, a Morrocan magic man, and serial entrepreneur. In Beijing alone, from the mid-oughts until a year ago, he planted deep roots as a musician, IT guru,  mixologist, chef and restaurateur. Wow. That's a mouthful. Speaking of food. Badr is one of my favorite Instagramers and images of his food creations reflect this diverse set of affinities. Oh, and he moved to Italy during a global pandemic. Here's our chat.

My guest today is Frankie Huang. Frankie is a freelance writer and artist with a list of by-lines that far exceeds the length of this podcast, but the short list is notable, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Daily Beast is where I would start. It is within these gilded pages that Frankie shares her rather personal and poignant take on topics such as culture, identity and feminism. Perhaps most importantly, however, and yes I’m biased, she is also a lover of food. Here’s our chat.

My guest today is Ali Khan. Having grown up a foodie and eventually blogging about it into his adulthood, Ali has been the host of two fantastic shows within the Food Network universe:  Cheap Eats which sends him around the country with a tight daily budget to deliciously find breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack; and a few seasons of The Spring Baking Champioship, which as it sounds, is an entertaining confection contest replete with requisite twists and turns akin to other cooking competition shows.

Indeed, Ali isn’t only my first guest who literally travels for food for a living, but he should probably be hosting this particular episode. Here’s our chat.